This invention concerns a means for separating isotopes of hydrogen contained in a gas mixture based on the principle of gas chromatography, comprising a flow passage for a carrier gas containing a feed pump, at least one separation column with a packing, including a fine-grained active separation material, at least one collector which is controlled so as to be switched on by a valve arrangement, with a packing of a hydrogen-absorbing material, and a valve arrangement for controlling the separation process.
Tokamak fusion experiments on the scale of TFTR or JET will have a daily throughput in tritium operation amounting to some thousand Curies (Ci) of tritium (T.sub.2) serving as a reactor fuel. Only a small amount of this tritium is "burned"; the largest portion (above 90%) can be used again. However, before doing so it is necessary to clean this reactor fuel and to separate the light hydrogen and its compounds, i.e. H.sub.2, HD and HT, and to recover the isotopes D.sub.2 and T.sub.2 and the compound DT in a pure state and in large amounts (a few standard liters per day). In other fields of technology the need arises to recover small amounts of a certain isotope of hydrogen from a surplus of another isotope of hydrogen or another gas.
There are various processes for separating isotopes of hydrogen. In practical operation, low-temperature distillation is suitable only for separating large amounts of hydrogen isotopes; the throughput of expedient units is 10.sup.3 times higher than that required for the above-mentioned experiments and the dead stock in the cryogenic colunns is above 10.sup.5 Ci. Diffusion processes require high expenditure because the separating factor per stage is only about 2. Bipolar electrolysis with a separation factor between about 4 and 8 is still in the development stage.
Gas chromatography for separating isotopes of hydrogen has heretofore only been used for analytical purposes. All isotopes of hydrogen and their compounds can be quantitively separated by means of suitable prior art analysis devices based on gas chromatography. However, the throughput is only in the region of a few microliters and reaches a maximum of about one-tenth of a milliliter. It is already known (from "FUSION TECHNOLOGY", 1980, Pergamon Press Oxford and New York, pp. 571-577 and "ACHEMA-82-20. Ausstellungstagung fur chemisches Apparatewesen" from 6 to 12 June 1982 in Frankfurt) to use gas chromatography on a larger scale for separating isotopes of hydrogen.